


What A Charming Notion

by PatGillIsAKing



Category: Polygon/McElroy Vlogs & Podcasts RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Occult, Slow Build, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, clayton is a werewolf, idk how to tag, minimal proof reading im sorry, simone is a witch, there's spooky things happening, vaguely cottagecore?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25814278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatGillIsAKing/pseuds/PatGillIsAKing
Summary: Brian, an Occult Investigator, is sent to figure out what's happening in a small town in the country. He finds something more than what he went there for.
Relationships: Brian David Gilbert/Patrick Gill
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is my first fic i'm posting on here, and i really don't know how well it's gonna turn out, but i'm determined to finish it (hopefully posting it pushes me to finish). I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> ps: i just wanted more occult content im sorry

Brian lets out a sigh as he watches the car take off, sending a wave after it, on it’s way back to the city. He watches it disappear around a corner, hidden by trees and vibrant foliage. Clinging to his backpack, he turns around and thinks of the series of events that has led to him being alone, looking for something unknown, in a village he has barely even heard of. 

His first mistake was graduating College. After completing his thesis (that he’d rather not think about ever again), he graduated. Then he applied to the company he had his placement in and obviously got the job, where he received the official title of ‘Occult Investigator’. In other words, he solves spooky mysteries. 

Brian blinks a couple times, finally walking towards the town up ahead. The first few buildings are generic homes, incredibly lived in and quiet. He recalls the memory of being told he’s to meet a woman called Tara at an inn, which she presumably owns. He awkwardly drags an unreasonable amount of suitcases (3, as well as a large backpack) towards the largest building taking his chances that it’s the correct building. He opens the door and instantly makes eye contact with the woman behind the bar. She’s a brunette with glasses and looks up from organising something behind the bar. She greets Brian with a smile.

“Hey there, you must be Brian?”

“Yeah, that’s me. Are you Tara?” Brian responds, walking over to the bar and taking a seat, dropping his bags on the floor beside his feet.

“Yeah, welcome to the tavern, or inn, or sometimes even town hall, this place gets used for a lot of things,” She chuckles and looks around the room with a fond smile. The room is warm, a lot of wooden furniture. At the first look, some people would think it would be cramped when full, but in reality, it’s cosy. “Anyways, I’m sure you know why you’re here.”

“Mostly, there’s something going on?” He leans down towards his bag and pulls out a well used, leather-bound notebook. 

“You could say that. I’m not sure if Simone specified any of the weird things going on,” she pauses, Brian shakes his head, trying to recall the memory of everything he was told in his brief. “Well then I guess you’d start by asking her.” 

Just as if on cue, a woman bursts through the door of the inn. She’s tall and slender, with long dark hair and a grin.

“Speak of the Devil and he will appear,” Tara says with a faint smirk. 

“Uh, I’m actually a witch, sorry to disappoint.” The woman -Simone?- laughs and walks up to the bar, slotting in between two of the bar stools. Witch makes sense, looking at her, all she needs is a pointy hat and she’d fit the stereotype.

“Simone, this is Brian, he’s here for the, uh, situation.” Tara leans on her side of the bar.

“Oh, fun! Thank God someone’s gonna figure this shit out, because none of us can.” She laughs and looks towards Brian who returns it with a smile. “Whereabouts are you staying in town?” 

Brian looks towards Tara with raised eyebrows, stuttering out a response, unsure of what to say.

“Oh God, I forgot to tell you. I’m really sorry but I can’t put you up in the inn. There was a leak in the plumbing and the whole of the upstairs flooded. But I’m sure we’ll find you somewhere to stay, “ Tara says, contemplatively rubbing her cheek with her hand. “I’m sure Jenna would put you up.”

“You know, there is always the manor house…” Simone buts in. Tara looks up and makes eye contact with her, holding it for a few seconds in silence as Brian watches, quickly feeling like he shouldn’t have heard that. 

“I wouldn’t wanna put him through that,” Tara says, “and anyway, we don’t even know if it’s, y’know, _available_.”

“Oh, come on, there’s no one in it,” Suddenly Simone turns to Brian, making him jump slightly. “Do you like spooky buildings?” 

“I’m an occultist, of course I like spooky buildings.”

Brian is then all but dragged out to Simone’s car and loaded into the passenger seat, listening as she recounts stories of the town and vital things she should know (including some of the town gossip, she justifies it by saying ‘everyone already knows, so you might as well!’). Soon enough they are driving along a secluded dirt road, heading out of the opposite side of town he arrived in. The views are incredibly picturesque, something Brian hasn’t experienced in a while. It’s not often you can get a break from the city. Brian had quickly learnt that Simone’s the only witch in town, and that she lives on the other side of the manor. 

“So, what’s the deal with the manor? Why’s it spooky?” Brian asks, wondering if they’re even close to it. Simone instantly becomes a little tense, Brian probably wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t of looked at her after leaving the question hanging for a few seconds. 

“So, I don’t really know, most people just say it has bad vibes, gives ‘em the creeps, y’know? It’s been empty for years, even before I moved here.” She finishes with a glance towards Brian. He gets the feeling that there’s something she’s not telling him but let’s it go, surely he’ll find out sooner or later. He responds with a hum and leans forward, turning the volume of the radio up and humming along with it, the two of them end up jamming along to it together for the remainder of the car trip.

In the distance, a house comes into view. It’s big, bigger than any of the other buildings in the town but Brian wouldn’t particularly call it a ‘manor’. Getting closer, Brian finally understands the ‘spooky’ atmosphere that comes with the house. It’s dark, wooden framing, along with the almost overbearing vines growing up and around the walls gives the manor a whole character description without even stepping inside. Simone pulls up the drive and brings the car to a halt. Brian steps out of the car and walks around it, meeting Simone at the bottom of the small set of stairs up to the front door. She hands him a key, it’s old and made of brass, with a few scratches and dents in the metal.

“Would you like to do the honours?” She smiles. Brian takes the key and puts it in the lock, twisting it. Unfortunately the door doesn’t creak like he thought he would when he opens it. He walks inside, into a hallway, and finds the light switch, flicking it on. The incandescent light gives the room a much warmer feeling. 

“It’s not even _that_ spooky here.” Brian half chuckles as he slowly walks around, dipping his head in an out of a couple doorways. 

“I know, I guess there’s just a stigma around this place. ‘ _Big, old, abandoned house. Must be haunted_ ’.” She says with a funny voice which Brian finds himself laughing at.

Simone helps get all of Brian’s things inside and makes sure he’s figured out how to put the heating on before leaving.

“If you ever need anything just continue down the road and you’ll come to a bit of forest, I’m just at the edge of it, you can’t miss it. I’ll drop back later to drop off some supplies for you, this place for sure doesn’t have any food, so I’m definitely coming back.” Simone steps out the door.

“Thank you, and if you see Tara before I do, tell her thanks, for giving me a whole house to myself.” Brian chuckles, grabbing a hold of the door, leaning against it slightly. Simone nods and trots down the steps, gets into her car and drives away, sending Brian a small wave just as she takes off. Brian watches her disappear further down the road and steps inside, closing the door. He smooths out his jacket and looks around, now strangely silent after the loss of Simone’s excited voice. 

“Time to get to work,” He half whispers to himself before diving into his bags to retrieve various notebooks. He quickly finds the study and is pleased to find that two of the walls are lined with bookshelves, thankfully still filled with books. He walks around the room skimming over the book titles and smiling slightly. The previous owners had decent taste and better organisational skills. The worst thing he finds in the room is the dust. He quickly retrieves a cloth from the kitchen and does his best to wipe down the surface of the desk, a great big wooden thing, that Brian was very eager to make his home for the next while. He puts his notebooks on the desk along with a couple of books that he had picked up from the shelves, books about the general area, just to try and get a grasp on his surroundings.

Simone keeps to her words and visits him later on, just after dusk, with a bag full of food, just the basics to keep him going until he goes back into town. Simone informs him that it’s only a 20 minute walk to get there.

“So, can you tell me who I should talk to first, from what I understand, some people have had actual things happen?” Brian looks around to Simone, who’s sitting on the counter top, as he unpacks some of the items and does his best to clean up the dust in the kitchen.

“I know that Clayton had something happen, something at the library, but I’m not sure exactly. So I’d ask him about that,” She slides off the counter and walks towards the bag of items, passing them to Brian to put them on a shelf. “I’m pretty sure that nearly everyone has had something happen to them, thankfully nothing has happened to me, but I don’t technically live in the town.”

“Oh, strange, but definitely not impossible.” Brian recalls hearing about a demon that tormented a specific apartment complex, never went outside the geographical barriers.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks, for letting me know.” He takes a jar of salt from her and places it on the shelf.

“No problem, anyway,” She folds the empty bag and steps towards the door frame, connecting the kitchen to the hallway. “I should really get going, it’s late and Ada will get angry if I’m not home soon.”

“Ada?” Brian walks with her to the front door.

“My cat, my bastard familiar.” She explains with a half-chuckle.

“Oh, of course, I’ll have to meet her at some point.” Brian smiles as he opens the door.

“You’re welcome to come round any time,” she steps over the threshold. “See you later!” Simone, just like earlier, trots down the steps and into her car, quickly disappearing into the night. Brian closes the door. After a quickly thrown together dinner, he heads to bed.


	2. Interviews and Bubble Baths

Brian wakes the next morning feeling somewhat rested, as well rested as you can be when trying to get used to a new bed situation. After putting in a little extra effort in getting ready, he heads into town, thinking over his various questions for the people he’s bound to meet. He’s determined to find the people whose names had been mentioned in various conversations; Jenna and Clayton. 

He reaches the town and is soon met with the comforting smell of baking bread. He decides to follow it and soon ends up outside possibly the most picturesque bakery he’s ever seen. Through the large store windows he can see a woman behind the counter, facing away from the door, too busy with an oven to notice Brian lingering outside. The door is propped open with a small wooden stop, and Brian can feel the warmth coming from within before he even steps inside. He steps over the threshold.

“Good Morning,” He says, causing the woman to jump and look towards Brian quickly. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” He rushes out.

“Oh! Don’t worry, I just never usually see anyone this early, you must be the new guy, right? Brian, is it?” The woman closes an oven and wipes her apron, getting as much flour off of them as possible and walks around the counter.

“Yeah, Brian David Gilbert.” He smiles and sticks out his hand, which she takes in her own and shakes. 

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jenna, welcome to my bakery. Feel free to take a seat, I’ll come over and chat just let me finish kneading this dough.” She walks back around the counter and produces a ball of dough, seemingly from nowhere. Brian lets out a quick ‘sure’ and takes a look around him, there’s a couple small tables, each with a couple chairs at them. He sits at the closest one. 

“So, welcome to the town, how was the ride up?” Jenna glances up at him momentarily.

“Good, I guess,” he smiles, despite her not really seeing.

“Where are you staying? I know Tara’s place is off limits.” 

“Uh, the manor house.” Brian takes his bag off from around his body and puts it on the floor beside him. He looks back up to meet Jenna eyes, which are already looking at him.

“Oh,” a faint smirk quirks at her lips. “That was bold of them… Who was it that suggested it? No wait, it was Simone, wasn’t it?” She transfers the dough into a bowl, places a towel over it and wipes her hands on her apron once again.

“It was,” He chuckles as he watches her approach and sits opposite him.

“I knew it, Simone is certainly a  _ character _ .”

“I feel like I already knew that.” They both laugh. They chat for a little longer, Jenna asks him about his personal life, while also revealing bits of her own, she’s been the town's baker for as long as she could bake, along with her father, until he passed away when she was 23, leaving her to do it on her own. Before long a dog appears from behind the counter, a small labradoodle, with shaggy, tan fur. Brian quickly learns that his name is Max and he likes being scratched behind the ears. Max eventually settles with his head resting on one of Brian’s feet. Brian finally takes the opportunity to ask about the strange happenings in town. 

“To be honest, I have no idea,” she starts. “I haven’t had anything personally but I have felt weird ever since it started.”

“Weird?” Brian leans down to pull out his notebook and a pencil to take various notes. 

“Like, just a little on edge, I suppose, it’s nothing major, just a little off-putting,” Jenna explains, Brian nods.

“When did all of this start happening?”

“I’d say, about a month ago.” She leans back in her chair, folding her arms, thinking. “Jeff was the first one to have a problem, I mean, a physical problem.”

“A physical problem?” Brian scribbles down rough notes, vague ideas, as she continues talking.

“Yeah, someone, or something, has been stealing clothes from him, I think?”

“Oh?” Brian looks up from his notebook.

“Yeah, and I know that just sounds like classic theft, but there’s a pattern; it’s only when his clothes are drying outside, but the thing is, there’s a massive wall around his garden.”

“That’s certainly weird…” He trails off as he scribbles down the last couple of words. 

They talk for a little longer before Jenna has to get back to her baking and she gives Brian directions to the library. 

“Make sure to come back later! I’m gonna bake some pretzels, I’ll keep one for you, if you’d like.” Jenna smiles up at him from behind the counter.

“Oh, yeah, that’d be great! Thank you, I’ll see you later.” He leaves the shop and follows Jenna's directions, quickly finding the library. It's smaller than he'd have hoped but it seems to house a fair selection of literature. Close to the main entrance, a man is sitting behind a large wooden desk, he stands up. He is very tall and thin, with a decent length beard. More hair -or rather, fur- lines around his neck, downwards to his back, and a little peeks out past his long sleeves, creeping slightly onto the back of his hands. Brian hadn't expected a werewolf to own the library, but what can you really expect in this small village.

"Oh, hello, you must be Clayton?" Brian steps towards the desk, smiling. When the man nods, Brian continues.

"I'm Brian, I'm here about the weird things going on in town?" He poses it like a question without realising, but gives Clayton the warmest smile he can.

"Oh, of course, Simone mentioned you'd be along. What can I do for you?" He puts his hands in the pockets of his cardigan. It's a soft, beige material.

"I'm here to ask a couple questions, if that's alright?" Brian asks.

"I'll do my best to answer them." Clayton responds with a gentle smile, the slightest tip of a canine peeking out. Brian and Clayton sit down and chat for a while; Clayton tells stories of how he keeps finding the library in disarray first thing in the morning. Clayton also explains that every time it happens, the door is still locked from the night before, which is confusing because Clayton has the only key to the library.

“Is anything ever missing?” Brian leans across the table in interest, scribbling down notes.

“No, not from what I can tell,” Clayton furrows his eyebrows.

“Do you think there’s any reasoning behind it? Like, why is this happening? Is it looking for something?” Brian is only vaguely aware of the confused facial expression he’s making after he finishes. 

“No, I don’t think so, to be honest, it feels like it’s just trying to mess with me, for fun.” Clayton answers. Brian nods and adds to the scribbles on the page in front of him.

“Weird,” Brian mutters. Clayton confirms his thoughts with a nod. “Well, I’m gonna do my best to find out what’s behind this, let me know if anything else happens.” Brian slides his notebook back into his bag and begins to leave. 

“Will do, stay safe out there.” Clayton walks with Brian to the door and opens it for him. They say their last ‘goodbyes’ and Brian trots down the couple of stairs at the entrance. He gives Clayton a small wave before deciding to walk back towards the centre of town, he tries to remember the directions Simone gave him to find the general store. As he walks, he takes the first deep breath since arriving. He really tries not to think about ‘what if this all goes wrong?’ or ‘what if I can’t figure it out?’. He pushes the voice to the back and overpowers it with a more reassuring one. Soon enough, he’s pushing the old, wooden door of the store open and stepping inside. The store is relatively small, but has a lot of things, if Brian didn’t know it was a store, he might’ve thought it was the home of a hoarder. At the first look, it seems the shop has a bit of everything; household goods, food, clothing, materials, even some items that Brian recognises as witches’ goods, which are most likely bought in for Simone. The lighting (that isn’t coming from outside) is very incandescent, which Brian appreciates. It makes it feel more homely. A man appears from behind a beaded curtain, somewhat flustered. He’s a bit shorter than Brian and has a welcoming smile. Just as welcoming as the lighting. 

“Hello! Are you new in town? My name’s Jeff, welcome to my store.” The man rushes out. “If you’ll excuse me for two seconds, I have to sort out a quick thing in the back, feel free to take a look around!” He ducks back behind the beaded curtain, a loud banging noise following behind. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Brian takes steps towards the back of the store, but not going any further than the counter. 

“Uh, nope! I’ve got it!” Jeff replies with a strained voice. Brian hears a couple more banging sounds before Jeff appears again and explains that one of the shelves in the back had fallen over and needed to be put back up. After talking for a little longer Brian learns that Jeff’s problem is thievery. Whatever is tormenting the town has been stealing his clothes. 

“Your clothes?” Brian asks, partially shocked. 

“Yep! Straight from my washing line, which should be impossible,” Jeff explains. He invites Brian through the back and into the part of the building that is Jeff’s house. Surprisingly, his house isn’t as chaotic as his shop. Brian is led out the garden, to see the washing line in question and yes. It’s a washing line. Your standard, run-of-the-mill washing line. Now here’s the fun part; Jeff’s entire garden is surrounded by a wall, at least 12 feet high. Nothing is getting over it easily. 

“See what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Brian looks over to Jeff after surveying the wall. 

“And anyways, if it was someone in town, you’d think I’d see them wearing the clothes, right?” Jeff raises his eyebrows. Brian nods. “But I haven’t seen that, and I don’t think someone would steal my stuff just to annoy me.” He finishes. 

“I get what you’re saying, and it does seem unlikely that it’s someone in town.” Brian confirms. They talk a little longer and Brian does actually purchase some things from Jeff; a couple maps of the local area, some food items and other miscellaneous things. Brian returns to the bakery and picks up the pretzel as promised. As he’s about to leave, he’s reminded of the manor house, and reminded of the questions he had about it.

“Jenna, can I ask you something?” 

“Sure thing.” Jenna sets down the tray of pastries she’s just taken from the oven, and starts to transfer them one-by-one to a cooling rack.

“What can you tell me about the manor house?”

“Oh, uh,” She hesitates but continues. “Probably not much, I’ve only ever been there once; to check it out with Simone and Tara. Tara needed to make sure no one was living in it before she could put it up for sale. That was 3 or 4 years ago, and no one’s bought it. Tara keeps lowering the price, but every potential buyer has refused.”

“Why?” Brian’s eyebrows furrowed.

“No clue, some claim it’s haunted, or cursed.” Jenna puts the last pastry from the tray onto the rack and wipes her hands on her apron.

“And is it?”

“Personally, I think it’s baloney, sure the place is eerie lookin’, but it’s just old.”

While Jenna and Brian are chatting, Simone bursts through the door. 

“Oh! Simone, I wondered when you would appear.” Jenna smiles fondly and kneels behind the counter. She pops back up with a small basket of baked goods. Mainly bread, as well as a couple of sweeter looking things. 

“Sorry, your highness.” Simone walks towards the counter, dramatically gesturing with her arms. Jenna just responds by rolling her eyes and sliding the basket over the counter. The three of them chat for a little while before Simone offers Brian a ride home, to avoid a 30 minute walk. Brian accepts and they hop in Simone’s car. They drive for a few minutes in silence and Brian sits back to enjoy the scenery. He was worried about moving out into the country, worried that it would be too quiet. It’s very different from the city, with it’s hectic streets and constant noise, but turns out the countryside is just peaceful. It’s a break from the constant stress. Although there is one thing he misses. His sister, Laura. They were close and still lived together, even after moving out of their parent’s house at different times. Brian moved further into the city for work, and a year later Laura joined him, so she could be closer to her school. 

“Can I say something?” Simone pulls Brian from his thoughts. He looks towards her. “I just need to clear up, it’s not me.”

“What?” Brian questions.

“Doing all of this. I know there’s a few people in the town that thinks I’m the one behind it,” she pauses, glancing at Brian with uncertainty in her eyes. “I’m a witch, y’know? I’m like, the only person with powers that can do stuff, I guess,” She rambles, trailing off at the end.

“People really said that?” 

“Yeah, I overheard them talking about it at the bar, it wasn’t Tara or Jenna or anyone, just a few of the older folks in this place, they don’t trust the whole magic biz’ sometimes, especially when bad things happen.”

“I’m sorry that you have to put up with that, and believe me, I know it’s not you. Witches weren’t anywhere on my list.” Brian says, attempting to comfort her. Simone's shoulders drop from relief.

“Thanks, I just wanted to make sure.”

“And anyways, what business do you have stealing Jeff’s clothes?” Brian chuckles, lightening the mood.

“Exactly!” She finally cracks a smile. A few seconds later and they’re pulling up the driveway of the manor. Brian thanks Simone for the ride and watches her leave, waving the whole time. He turns and goes inside, placing his keys on a table by the door. After a sneaky sniff to his armpit and a “Sorry, Simone” to thin air, Brian decides to go for a soak in the tub. The bathroom is large and looks expensive, with dark marble counter tops and what looks like gold-plated, metal details. He starts running a bath and grabs some of the bubble bath liquid from his wash bag, adding in a small amount and watching the bubbles appear. While it’s filling he runs downstairs and from the sitting room, grabs the record player he’s been eyeing up since he arrived. He flicks through a nearby shelf filled with records and settles with some classic jazz, because you really can’t go wrong with jazz. 

Once everything is transported upstairs and the smooth sounds of a piano are echoing in the bathroom, he gets into the tub, leaving his clothes in a pile in the corner of the room.

Sinking down into the water, which is nearly on the side of being too hot, he closes his eyes and lets out a deep breath, feeling the warmth seep into his bones. He concentrates on the sweet sounds of a bass coming from the record player and let’s his mind shut down, clearing his head. 

He only enjoys this bliss for a few minutes before the hairs on his arms stand up. At first he writes it off as the slight panic of being in an unfamiliar place, but soon his thoughts take over and fear slowly seeps in. He ignores it as well as he realistically can, keeping his eyes closed and breathing deeply, repeating comforting words in his head, rationalising the situation. The tension in his body grows and grows and he begins to hear the blood rushing in his ears, almost deafeningly. It only takes him a few seconds to realise what the feeling is. 

It feels like somebody's watching him. His eyes snap open. There’s no one there. 

Of course there’s not. He’s alone, by himself. He looks around the bathroom, mostly to convince himself. His heart rate lowers and the hair on his arms go down, and then it’s just him, alone in the bathroom, listening to jazz. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading so far, any critiques are happily welcomed!!
> 
> it's gettin spooky in here ;)


	3. The Painting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brian encounters... something.

“Good Afternoon, Clayton.” Brian closes the door of the library behind him, walking straight towards the desk.

“Morning, Brian. Here again so soon?” Clayton smiled from behind the desk. It had only been 2 days since Brian had last been to the library. Brian had been in the town of Rockport for just over eight days and hasn’t slept for the last two. 

“Of course! I need to borrow a few town maps, and local history books, if you have any.” Brian leans against the desk, hands holding on to the edge. Clayton points him towards the section and they make some light conversation while Brian picks out three different maps, each from different times throughout history. He also settles on a surprisingly big book of Rockport’s history that even he found a little daunting. After promising Clayton to make an appearance at the next book club meeting, he made his way home, only stopping briefly at Jeff’s store to pick up some fruit.

A few hours after he had returned home, it was dark out and he was standing over the desk, surrounded by various maps and books, each of them open at various pages. Currently working off of the idea that the problem was geographical. Perhaps one of the spirits that only operate in specific areas? Simone had mentioned that nothing had happened to her, and she lived outside of the town. But what were they called again? 

He hadn’t realised but Brian was speaking a lot of his thoughts out loud. 

“So, the main area of Rockport…” he trailed off moving some of the papers on the desk around. “Up until 3 years ago, had a road coming in from the North, which leads to Talisgate, 3 miles that way,” he traced a pencil around the paper of his notebook, copying down his own version of a map. 

“That road was intercepted by another road, going West towards… towards…” He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember the name through his sleep deprivation. 

“Oldmere.”

“Yes! Oldmere, which then has a road that circles around, leading back to Rockport. Simple.” He throws the pen down, letting out a sigh and scrubbing his face with both hands. He takes his hands down from his face and stares at the diagram in front of him. Scanning across the page, his eye’s settle on the word ‘Oldmere’. He realises that wasn’t his consciousness talking.  He quickly looks around the room, several times even, but finds nothing. He could have swore it was a real voice. He could even remember the hushed, gravelly sound of it. 

He walks out into the hallway and, looking down it, sees the tail-end of a figure disappear around the corner, going into a part of the house that Brian hasn’t really explored. This part of the house is much older and the electrics don’t seem to work when he tries to flip the light switch in the hallway, which is confusing because Brian was sure Tara had told him that she had fixed all of the electrics herself. He fetches the large candelabra from the study and lights it as quickly as possible, then heads towards the unexplored wing of the house. The second he turns the corner, the hair on the back of his neck stands up. Everything he has ever been told or studied about the occult is telling him to walk away from the feeling, but the curiosity outweighs it. At the end of the corridor there’s a door. Brian goes through it. 

The room is dark, colder than the rest of the house. He squints his eyes and walks around the room, looking at various bookshelves which are filled with old, but well-kept books, artefacts and objects. The centrepiece of the room however, was a large painting. Brian puts the candlestick towards it. A portrait becomes visible. It seems to be of a man, but the face is ripped.  _ Of course,  _ Brian thought, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at the cliche. To the left of the painting there was a blank space, and the paint on the wall was slightly lighter, suggesting that there was definitely meant to be another painting.

His eyes are quickly brought to the small golden plaque at the bottom of the painting.

“Who are you?” He mumbles, leaning down a little to get closer to the plaque. It looks like someone had attempted to scratch off the name, but the last name is still partially readable.

“Gill?” 

Not even a second after the word is muttered, the candles blow out and Brian finds himself in near darkness. Jumping, he spins around, looking back towards the door. The feeling of being watched is back and it is back with a vengeance. He violently looks around the room, trying to see what  _ thing _ is trying to get to him, he makes a very smart decision; he drops the candlestick and runs. The door slams behind him and he stops, with his back up against the wall opposite the door. He only gets to look at it for a few seconds before the room starts spinning and he passes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! sorry this took a good few days, and also sorry it's so short, this chapter is really just a bit of filler bc it doesn't feel right to put it in the other chapters. thanks for reading!


	4. Records

It’s been two weeks since Brian passed out in the hallway, and honestly? He’s trying to ignore what actually happened. He’s keeping himself sane by convincing his brain that it’s just a ghost. He’s fairly familiar with ghosts and it’s not unheard of for them to be territorial, or even aggressive, but he really doesn’t wanna get on it’s bad side. 

_ Flashback to two weeks ago. _

Brian’s ripped from his slumber by the sound of knocking. There’s sunlight coming through the window, and he can hear the faint sound of birds outside. He makes an attempt at moving but a quick sharp pain runs through his nerve endings when he attempts to move his head around. Grimacing through the pain, he managed to roll out his joints, feeling a few bones crack here and there. Another knock comes from the front door. He gets up and groggily gets himself to the front door. Turning the key and opening it, he’s met with Simone. 

“Hey!” She smiles.

“Hi,” Brian croaks, he squints his eyes, looking into the sunlight. 

“I wanted to know if you wanna join me while I go to the store?” She looks at her car, then back to Brian, the movement of her head accentuated by the large sun hat she was wearing. 

“Oh, uh, I would love to, but I had a terrible night’s sleep, so I think I might just try and get some more sleep.” He picks at the sleep in his eye.

“Alright, well maybe another time?”

“For sure,” Brian smiles as he watches Simone descend the stairs. Once she’s past the hedge at the bottom of the garden, he closes the door and heads up stairs. Walking past the study, he notices something. The candlestick is back in it’s rightful place on the shelf.

“Alright Ghostie, I see you,” he mumbles while walking away.

_ Present Day _

Since that day, he’s been talking to what he calls ‘Ghostie’, whenever something has moved, or something goes missing. And it kind of talks back. If Brian complains about losing something, it seems to turn up in an obvious place by the next morning. Any time the room goes cold, he greets the Ghostie. It’s a weird relationship.

Everything Brian suspects might be the problem in Rockport, turns out to be a dead end. All of his ideas turn into loose ends or end up being impossible, or at least  _ very  _ unlikely. He came across scarcely mentioned spirit, something that wrecked chaos and trickery, but that was quickly written off by a report he found, done by a local witch nearly 60 years prior to Brian’s arrival. As far as he could tell, the spirit had been cast out of the area and he speculated from Earth too.

The clock read 10:47am when Brian left the house, headed towards the town library once more. Surprisingly he was returning books, rather than renting them. Walking through the town he realised just how comfortable he had come to be in the little country-side getaway. Everyone is really lovely, looking out for each other all the time, accepting him into the community almost instantly. The place has everything he needs and it’s a nice change of pace from his usual day to day. But he misses the city just a little too much. 

The door of the library is propped open, and Brian ducks inside, out of the sun. Clayton isn’t to be found anywhere so Brian heads towards the drop-off box. He slides the few books into the post-box style container, and turns to leave.

“Oh! Brian, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.” Brian turns around to see a Clayton, slightly flustered, smoothing down the front of his cardigan. “Our Air-Con is on the fritz, and well, it gets very warm when you have fur.” Clayton gestured to himself, the sleeves of his clothing rolled up to his elbows.

“Of course,” Brian smiles and Clayton responds with a sheepish laugh. “Is there anything I can do to help?” 

“Oh, no, I’m having Tara look at it soon. Is there anything I can do for you?” 

Brian opens his mouth to say ‘no’ but quickly remembers the thoughts that have been clouding the back of his mind for the past couple of weeks. 

“I don’t suppose you have records?”

“What kind of records?”

“People who have lived in the town?” Clayton thinks for a moment before gesturing for Brian to follow him. 

“I think we do, but I haven’t looked through it much, so I can’t be of any proper help.” Clayton continues as he guides him through the back, into what looks like an office. There are boxes on shelves and Clayton retrieves two of them. He puts them on the desk in the middle of the room. Brian takes the lid off of one and thankfully, they seem to be alphabetically sorted. 

“I, uh, I’ll leave you to it,” Clayton says before heading back towards the front of the library. Brian manages to say a quick ‘thank you’ before he fully disappears.

Brian flicks to G.

An infuriating 40-something minutes and Brian has found nothing. Nil, nought, zero mentions of the name ‘Gill’ anywhere. It almost doesn’t make sense, these records go back pretty far, and there’s not even a mention of the name in passing. The Gills either didn’t exist, or didn’t  _ want _ to exist. He packs up the boxes rather passive aggressively. 

The manor comes back into view and he stops walking. He looks further down the road, to the house, and then back to the road. He’s not ready to go home yet. He continues down the road. He vaguely remembers the directions to Simone’s house: something about the forest? Just as he’s about to give up and turn back, a small cottage comes into view. It’s white on the inside with wooden detailing around the edges. The whole place is covered in colourful foliage with endless amounts of greenery and flowers in the garden. He knocks on the door and it’s quickly opened by a cheerful Simone.

“Hey, Brian! Come in.” She quickly gestures to him to come inside. 

“How are you doing?” Brian smiles as he walks into the cottage, it’s chaotic but clean, clearly well lived in. 

“I’m good, just finishing up a potion order. I’ll get the kettle going.” Brian takes a seat on the couch in the living room and watches as Simone returns back to her potion. 

“So, how is the manor?” 

“Uh, it’s good! Only a little bit creepy, I keep finding some of the old resident’s things.” Brian says, causing Simone to pause her movements.

“Really?” She looks over her shoulder.

“Yeah? Is that bad?” 

“Uhh…” She hangs onto the words while she leans down and delicately pours a liquid from one beaker to another, a second later a puff of purple smoke comes out the top. “Not exactly, I’m just surprised.”

“Do you know who they were?” Brian asks as he watches Simone put a cork in the bottle, and place it into a basket. 

“Only vaguely,” the kettle of hot water boils and lets out a familiar scream. Simone quickly grabs it from the stove and pours water into cups, making the tea.

“They were rich, evidently, it’s a manor,” She chuckles. “A brother and sister duo, I think.” She walks over to the couch and hands Brian a mug that smells vaguely of lavender. 

“Brother and sister?” Brian raises his eyebrows, smirking.

“God no, not like that, not from what I’ve been told at least.” They both laugh.

“I think the sister was called Rhiannon,” She thinks for a moment before continuing. “Rhiannon and ‘something’ Gill, I’m sure.” she chews on her fingernail, trying her hardest to remember.

“What happened to them?” Brian takes a sip of the tea, which turns out to be a bit sweeter than he anticipated.

“One day they just left, disappeared into thin air almost, no one’s seen them since, and that was like, 50 years ago.” Simone explained. 

“Did you ever meet them?”

“Not really, our time here only overlapped by a couple weeks, I think I only ever met them once.”

They talk for a little longer, Brian accidentally letting his tea go cold before he finishes it. He does actually meet Simone’s familiar, Ada -short for Adelaide- and she’s a certified cutie.

It’s starting to get dark when Brian heads home, Simone sending him off with a container of her trademarked, homemade soup and various herbal concoctions. He gets into the manor and flicks the light on, heading straight to the kitchen to put Simone’s gifts away. As he’s humming a tune to himself, he hears a clanging noise coming from the door of the basement. 

“Are you trying to make me piss myself, Ghostie?” He asks to the air, taking a deep breath. The more he thinks about it, he realises he hasn’t actually been down to the basement yet. Well, there’s no time like the present, eh? 

He grabs a torch and thinks ‘fuck it’ and opens the door. He finds the light switch and descends the wooden staircase. Once he reaches the bottom, he’s almost disappointed. It’s nowhere near as spooky as he wanted it to be. The tension from his shoulders disappear and he takes a look around. The room is filled with various boxes, on closer inspection, he realises they’re full of things that seem almost personal. Little trinkets, a jewellery box, even clothing. The most interesting thing that he finds however, is a journal filled with newspaper clippings. Headlines that read ‘GILL’ and ‘SCANDAL’ are what he’s instantly drawn to. He barely gets two words into the first article.

“You shouldn’t be down here.”

It’s the same voice from before. He can feel eyes boring into the back of his head. Brian doesn’t dare look at the source. He does something that surprises himself. He responds.

“Why not?” 

“Those don’t belong to you.” It’s definitely the same voice from before. Brian glances at the headlines. He closes the journal but stays put.

“What did you do?” He asks, quietly. The question hangs heavy in the air for a few long moments.

“I did  _ nothing _ .” The voice snarls, sounding much closer than it was before. Brian’s shoulders tighten and he closes his eyes. He holds his breath. Nothing happens. A gust of air moves behind him and suddenly the feeling is gone. Whoever spoke to him is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!! i'm sorry that this another one that's kind of a tease, it's gonna get spicy soon i promise!!


	5. Missing

Brian and the ghost aren’t on good terms. They haven’t been for around 11 hours now. Since the argument (was it an argument?) the previous night, the ghost has been very unhappy. He’s been slamming doors, stomping around, generally just making a lot of noise, keeping Brian awake the entire night. Brain would attempt to ask him nicely but he doesn’t feel as if they’re on ‘talking terms’.

He gives up on getting any sleep and decides to head into town. Maybe one of Jenna’s croissants will make him feel better. He gets dressed, messily pushing his hair into place.

“I’m heading out, feel free to be as angsty as you want, Ghostie,” he shouts into the house as he opens the front door.

One of the first buildings he walks past to get to the bakery is the general store, and Jeff’s outside of it, washing the windows. 

“Morning, Brian.” He squeezes a sponge into a bucket and drags it across the window.

“Hey, Jeff, how are you?” 

“Good! Are you heading to the bakery by any chance?” 

“You know it,” Brian chuckles, it’s kind of become a running joke that the only reason Brian leaves the manor before 9am, is to get warm baked goods.

“Mind if I join ya? I haven’t had a freshly baked bread roll in a while.” Jeff gets up from the ground, quickly putting the bucket into the shop and locking the shop behind him.

“Feel free.”

The two of them make light conversation, Jeff talking about one of his recent orders for the store that went a little wrong, to summarise, he now has 100 pots of ink instead of 10. They round the corner of the street that the bakery is on to see that there’s no light coming from the building. The door is ajar, and there’s a light on in the back, but there’s nothing else. No sound of Jenna clanging metal utensils, no sweet smells. The only smell is the stale scent of yesterday’s batches. The whole situation is suspicious.

“Jenna?” Jeff shouts, they wait for a response but don’t get one. They exchange glances before Jeff walks around the counter, heading towards the back, Brian follows. They step over the threshold, into Jenna’s house. Brian’s only been in here once but nothing looks particularly out of place, everything looks normal. Jeff goes upstairs to look around while Brian heads towards the kitchen. He can hear Jeff's soft steps investigating above him while Brian looks around the kitchen for any sign of where Jenna might be. Maybe there’s a calendar with something written on it? His eyes land on a cork board, with various things pinned onto it. Recipes, photographs, small notes, what looks like receipts, but nothing that tells Brian of Jenna’s whereabouts. Jeff appears in the doorway. 

“Find anything?” Jeff asks.

“No, even the dog’s missing.” Brian gestures to the dog bowl with ‘MAX’ inscribed onto it. 

“Maybe she had to leave in a hurry? Y’know, go out of town.” Jeff furrows his eyebrows, not even fully convincing himself. 

“Let’s hope so.” He responds, the whole situation seems  _ off _ . 

“We should head to Tara’s, maybe she knows something.” Jeff offers and Brian agrees. 

  
  


“And you said the door was wide open?” Tara fixes Brian with a hard stare, trying her best to understand the situation, with a deep level of concern.

“Well, not wide open, just a crack really.” He holds his hands about 8 inches apart, gesturing to her. Both Brian and Jeff had explained the situation to Tara, the three of them discussing what could have happened. Neither of them had a clue. Tara had heard nothing from her, not since the night before when Jenna left the inn. They all agree that there’s something not quite right with it. With everything going on lately, the town’s disturbances, and now a person disappearing? This isn’t right. 

Tara gathers as many of the townsfolk as she can, and sets up various search parties. There’s three main parties: forest, town and surrounding. The forest party would be exploring the forest at the other side of the manor, where Simone’s house is. The town party would be exploring the town, and the ‘surrounding’ party would explore the other side of town, along the main road towards the city, where there’s a few fields that eventually lead to a river. Pretty self-explanatory. Brian joins Simone in the Forest Party, as Simone knows the forest pretty well, which is fair, because she’s lived there for half a century and uses the forest for a lot of her resources.

Unfortunately, the searches uncover essentially nothing. Brian, in his best hill-walking boots, is damp, from both the moisture in the air and the sweat coming from his own body. He’s been searching the forest for hours, with nothing to show for it. He enters into a clearing which is almost perfectly circular, and stands in the centre. He slowly spins around and notices something. He takes out a compass to confirm. And he’s right. There’s a tree in every single cardinal direction. It could just be a coincidence, but the set up is  _ too perfect.  _ He walks over to the Northern tree. It’s a big, old thing, covered in moss and lichen. It seems completely normal. Until something catches his eye. A small glittering brings his attention to the trunk, about chest height. He reaches out and pulls at the moss, uncovering even more of the glittering substance. It’s black, looks wet to the touch. As he’s pulling at the moss, it creates a shape. If Brian had to guess what it was, he’d say it’s a rune, but a rune for what? He has no idea. He pulls out his notebook and draws the rune. As he’s sketching it, he hears Simone shouting, a few yards away, back towards the direction they came from. 

“Brian! We should head back, it’s getting dark!”

“I’m on my way.” He stuffs the journal into his backpack and heads towards Simone. They make their way back to Simone’s house, and that’s as far as Simone and Brian go. The rest of the party would go back to the inn to report back to Tara. As Simone is making cups of tea for the two of them, Brian shows her the drawing. 

“Does this look familiar to you?” 

“Not exactly, but it’s in a similar style to something I’ve seen before.” She takes the journal and inspects it. She gestures towards the tea, urging for Brian to take over while she traces over various books on a shelf. She finds the one she’s after, and flicks to a specific page. She walks back over with the two books side by side.

“I picked up this book years ago, it’s like a dictionary for runes, it’s great if you’re into runes, but I haven’t used it all that much.” She lays the books down, Brian skims across the pages. “It kinda looks like these two, but combined?” She says, looking back up to Brian.

“You’re right…” He trails off, reading more of the explanations of the runes. “But it doesn’t make sense.” 

“One of them is a symbol of protection.” Brian points at the book. “But the other one, it’s something to do with curses.”

“Shit,” Simone mutters under her breath.

“But combining both? Surely they’d just cancel each other out?” Brian tries to recall any instances of this happening before, but nothing comes to mind. Runes are kind of out-dated in terms of occult studies. 

“You’d think so, but it all depends. It doesn’t specifically say that it’s used for curses, just that it’s commonly seen in correlation with them, there’s no real way of knowing, unless we can find more. Runes are weird like that.” She finishes explaining and takes a sip of her tea. Simone looks up at Brian and she swears she can almost see the cogs spinning in his head. They’re going a million miles an hour. 

“Hey, I know you want to find Jenna as fast as possible, but there’s not much more we can do tonight, how about we just take it easy, yeah?” Simone closes the book. “I want to find her too, but we’re not gonna be any help if we don’t get any sleep.” She puts a hand on his shoulders. Suddenly Brian’s exhaustion hits, after getting no sleep the previous night and walking around a forest literally all day, he’s shattered.

“You’re right,” Brian admits and takes another sip of tea, feeling the warmth seep through his joints. The two talk for a little while longer, Brian makes sure to give Ada a good amount of chin scratches and he eventually heads off, refusing the lift home from Simone.

He closes the door of the manor behind him, careful not to make much noise in case Ghostie is still mad at him. He did actually want to get some sleep tonight. He toes off his boots and leaves them at the bottom of the stairs. Slowly making his way up, he notices the door of the study is slightly open. Brian was sure he left it shut. He remembers specifically closing it to stop the draft from disturbing the organised chaos of paper and books strewn across the floor and table. He slowly moves closer to the door making sure to keep his footsteps quiet. Sneaking his head around the corner of the door he sees a figure. A whole ass man! The man has his back to the door, crouching over a pile of papers, looking at a diagram.

“I knew you weren’t a ghost!” Brian jumps into the room, a grin on his face. The man jumps up, at record speed, and bumps into the desk behind him, leaving him leaning against it. His eyes are wide open, looking around the room quickly, almost looking for a way out. Brian studies him a little: he is dressed in a white shirt, with long sleeves and a cross hatching across the chest. Black trousers -are they made of leather?- hug him nicely all the way down to big, black, ass-kicking boots.

“Actually, let me be more specific, I knew you weren’t a poltergeist.” Brian crosses his arms over his chest, smirking. The man stares at Brian, almost bewildered before he blinks a few times and stands up properly. He puffs out his chest and takes a few steps closer to Brian, his face turning to something dark and his mouth turning up into a snarl, revealing teeth.

“Oh!” Brian uncrosses his arms, and his eyes open slightly wider. If he wasn’t so exhausted, he might’ve been a little scared. “You’re a vampire, how did I not think of that?” Brian half-giggles to himself. Pat just takes another step, fully entering Brian’s space. He keeps his teeth bared but makes a face which definitely says ‘are you kidding me?’ and  _ points  _ to his teeth.

“... I think they’re neat?” 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” The man’s shoulders drop and he turns around, walking away from Brian.

“So, it is you! That’s definitely the voice I spoke to in the basement.” Brian watches the man sit down at the desk, scrubbing a hand over his eyebrows. 

“Have I really lost my edge?” The man finally looks at Brian. 

“No, but I’m an occultist, and if you really wanted me dead, I wouldn’t have survived the first night,” Brian responds. “So, what’s your name ‘Oh, Spooky One’?” Brian gestures to the air. 

“Patrick,” He says, after a few seconds of silence. 

“Well, Patrick, it’s awfully nice to finally meet my roommate.” Brian sticks his hand out in front of him and walks to the desk. Patrick reluctantly shakes his hand.

“Why aren’t you scared of me?” Patrick asks. “Usually when people find out there’s a vampire in town, an angry mob shows up to kick their ass.”

“Maybe, like, forty years ago. How long have you lived in this house?” Brian asks.

“Since it was built.” Patrick responds, meaning he’s been here for at least 150 years.

“Wait. Gill, that’s you, and your sister, Rhiannon-”

“Don’t say her name.” Patrick stands up. Brian throws his hands up, instantly shutting up. The two stare at each other for a few seconds, thousands of thoughts going through Brian’s head. His mind instantly remembers Jenna.

“Wait a fuckin’ minute,” Brian trails off.

“What?” Patrick snarls.

“Did you…”

“Did I what?” Patrick snaps.

“Jenna…” Brian’s heart rate finally begins to pick up.

“Who’s Jenna?”

“She went missing, from the village.”

“And you think I did it?” Patrick raises his voice.

“Well, I don’t know! I see a vampire, I think maybe, y’know,”

“It wasn’t me,” He dismisses.

“How can I be so sure?”

“I don’t feed off of humans, haven’t for a long time, haven’t even  _ eaten  _ for a while.” Patrick sinks back into his chair, and now that Brian really looks at him, Patrick is looking pale(more than expected), sickly, and definitely hungry.

“When was the last time you went outside?” Brian asks, gently, lowering his arms.

“Yesterday, I went into the gardens.” “Patrick huffs.

“I meant the village.” Brian watches Patrick closely, who averts his gaze. “You haven’t left the grounds of the manor the entire time, have you?” Patrick’s eyes lift back up to Brian’s, instantly answering the question. “How long has it been?”

“39 years, 7 months, 2 days.”

“Why not?”

“Angry mob? Wooden stakes? The whole works.” Brian’s not old enough to know it directly, but he obviously knows of the stigma around occult beings, especially those who were deemed ‘evil’, like vampires, werewolves, sirens, etc. 

“I don’t know how to tell you this in a way that you’ll believe me, but, the world isn’t like that anymore. It hasn’t been for a long time. Sure there’s still specific people who aren’t ‘happy’ with y’all but dude, there’s laws and shit now.” Brian rambles. Patrick just stares at him, confused. 

“Hell, a werewolf runs the library in town! His name is Clayton, he’s lovely, wears cardigans.” Brian says, causing Patrick to break a smile. Brian really does try his best to explain about 40-50 years of history as quickly as possible, and most of it seems to get through to Patrick, but he’s still unsure and Brian can tell.

They’ve migrated downstairs, to the kitchen and Brian’s making himself a sandwich.

“What’s wrong? Why don’t you trust me?” He looks over his shoulder, towards Patrick, who’s sat at the table, staring at the ground. Brian turns around fully and watches the other man take in a deep breath before opening his mouth to speak.

“Rhiannon,” Patrick looks up to meet Brian’s gaze. “Was killed.” Brian watches the hand that Patrick has on the table tense into a fist. His heart drops in his chest.

“I’m so sorry.” Is all he can think to respond. There’s a weird silence hanging in the air. One of them has to break it eventually. 

“Are you still hungry?” Brian almost whispers. Patrick meets his eye and nods. 

“There might be something you can work with in the fridge, it could tide you over until I can get Jeff to order in some real stuff.” Brian remembers the few steaks he had bought from the local butchers, they seemed quite bloody. 

“Real stuff?” Patrick furrows his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” He replies, and then realises the man in front of him has literally lived in isolation for forty years. “Oh, uh, there’s systems in place nowadays, like you can just  _ get  _ blood, shit’s wild. It’s not human, I think it might be pig? I honestly don’t remember.”

“Holy shit.” Patrick looks at him in slight awe, finally starting to believe Brian.

“Yeah, anyways, I’m gonna take a bath and then pass out,” Brian walks out to the hallway but stops to shout over his shoulder. “And I would like to sleep tonight, please!”

Patrick mumbles out an embarrassed apology behind him, causing Brian to smile to himself as he ascends up the staircase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! I'm sorry that this one is kinda dialogue heavy, i'm so used to writing scripts etc, that i'm not very good at proper prose stuff, so, sorry if I confused you a bit, thanks for reading! (also very minimal proof-reading, ran it through a grammar checker but i wouldn't count on it lol)


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